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Prince Charles is preparing to make his first visit to the Northumbrian coast later this month.
The trip is aimed at highlighting small family businesses and community volunteering in the area.
Staying as a guest of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle, the prince will spend Monday July 23 and Tuesday July 24 visiting a number of coastal locations including Warkworth, Amble, Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and Seahouses.
He will also open Alnwick Castle’s latest innovation – a Jamie Oliver’s “Ministry of Food” centre which aims to educate and inspire people about food.
Over the course of his two day visit to the region, the prince will meet charity and community volunteers, fishermen, artists, lifeboat crew and RAF personnel as well as visiting a number of family-run businesses including a homemade farmhouse pudding company, a coastal pub and micro-brewery, and a blacksmiths which has been in the same family since the 1920s.
The prince’s visit begins on Monday July 23 at Alnmouth, where he will arrive by royal train and be greeted by her grace the Duchess of Northumberland, who is the Lord Lieutenant of the county.
In Amble, His Royal Highness will meet volunteers and local artists at the Pride of Northumbria Community Shop in Queen Street before going on to meet community groups, young performers and local fisherman in the town’s main square.
On Tuesday July 24 the prince will make a visit to Holy Island, where in 635 AD St. Aidan came from the Scottish island of Iona and founded a monastery.
During his time on the island, the prince will meet local residents and visitors and visit the parish church of St Mary’s, the ruins of Lindisfarne priory and the 16th century castle run by the National Trust, of which The Prince is president.
In Bamburgh His Royal Highness will visit the Grace Darling Museum before heading to the beach to meet members of the Marine Conservation Society, of which the prince is also president.
He will also see first-hand the work of representatives from Bamburgh Castle, who have been conducting a beach litter survey.
In the coastal resort of Seahouses, the Prince will meet RNLI lifeboat crew, harbour businesses, local artists and other members of the community before visiting the town’s famous Swallowfish smokery and shop, where he will meet members of staff and local fishermen.
At the small 18th century fishing village of Low Newton by-the-Sea, The Prince will meet local residents, staff and community representatives during a visit to The Ship Inn and its microbrewery.
Arriving back at Alnwick Castle that evening, the prince, patron of the Alnwick Castle Gardens Restoration Project, which he last visited in 2007, will be taken on a tour of the grounds by the Duchess of Northumberland.
Afterwards he will meet young people who have benefited from Prince’s Trust programmes and from the Cheryl Cole Foundation which helps young people in the north east.
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